"Is this report accurate?" asked Pain staring down at the form of Zetsu.
"Yes! Of course! We could never lie about something like that!" said the white half of Zetsu with a scared and worried voice.
"We only recovered Kakuzu's ring from what's left of his body, even that thing inside him is dead!" added the black part with an angry voice "There was no sign of Hidan, but much of the battlefield was completely burned!"
"And from what some ninja from Taki have said, their Jinchuuriki has disappeared!"
"Even though they claimed to have felt the chakra of the Bijuu for a while."
Konan looked from them to the orange-haired man "Pain, this is undoubtedly the work of the son of the Yondaime Hokage."
"Yes, there is no doubt. According to our reports, the Jinchuuriki of the Nanabi wasn't able to control the power of the Bijuu, therefore Hidan and Kakuzu should have easily defeated her." he narrowed his eyes "But apparently Naruto Uzumaki has discovered and eliminated them."
"What shall we do now?" asked the woman with a calm voice.
"We should converge on him and eliminate him! He cost us two members!" growled Zetsu but Pain shook his head.
"No, if we were to attack him all together, it's possible that he would be able to eliminate some of us, and this would slow down my plan further." said their leader before looking at the rain outside "Zetsu, I want you to discover the Nanabi's Jinchuuriki position. Once identified, let me know immediately, I'll go and capture it myself."
Zetsu nodded before disappearing into the ground as Pain went out on the tongue of a large statue, going to sit on the tip. Konan watched him for a few seconds before turning back and leaving the room.
'I wonder...will you be able to defeat a God like me, Naruto Uzumaki?' thought Pain looking up at the sky 'You will inevitably clash with our clan and then we'll see if you can stay true to your justice.'
§ - § - § - § - §
FLAMES OF DUTY
Chapter Six: Flames in the Desert
§ - § - § - § - §
[Konoha]
"Well, this is a surprise." said Naruto looking at the people standing in front of him. His most probable prediction had been that of not finding even one person waiting for him, and instead he was pleasantly surprised to see about a hundred people gathered in that clearing. Obviously it was a small number compared to the number of people brought back to life by Minato, but it was still a start. From what he could see and perceive, they were all civilians, no ninja among them.
Taking a few steps forward, Naruto looked at the various people gathered and noticed some familiar faces. He didn't know any of those people personally, but he was sure he had seen them during his life as Naruto Uzumaki.
'If I were to venture a hypothesis, I would say that those people died during the invasion of Konoha during the chūnin exams.' thought the former Captain-Commander with calm eyes before stopping when a woman with long purple hair approached him and Naruto immediately noticed her particular eyes 'Byakugan...curious, I didn't expect to find a member of that clan here.'
"Greeting, Uzumaki Naruto." said the woman, bowing before him "My name is Hitomi Hyuuga and you can think of me as the...representative of this small group."
Naruto nodded at her before asking "Is this all your doing?"
A sad smile formed on her lips "No, simply when we met here, they decided to elect me as a spokesperson given my status in the village." she then took on a more serious expression "May I ask you a few question...?"
The former Captain-Commander remained silent for a few seconds but then nodded.
"There are many children who were born in the last eight years...from people brought back to life by Minato. Are you going to kill them too...?" asked Hitomi and several people looked at him with worried eyes, but Naruto shook his head.
"No, all those born in the last eight years don't fit into my task. Their parents will be purified and eliminated, but no physical damage will be caused to the new generation, independently of their parents." said Naruto with a calm but firm voice "And before you can ask, I don't intend to spare any of the people brought back to life. Mine is too important a task to be left unfinished. Obviously I would prefer that everyone behaved like you, but you can't always get everything."
"I see..." Hitomi looked at the ground for a moment before showing him a sad smile "In that case...I have no other questions."
Naruto followed her with his eyes as she returned among the group of civilians but then decided to start his task "Form a line and come to me, you will be purified one by one."
As requested, they formed a line and the first of them, a middle-aged man, approached Naruto, who drew his sword, frightening and intimidating many of those present.
"Fear not." said Naruto "I don't intend to use my blade, but the hilt. Although you are living people, your presence is the same as a Plus, so this method should work with you too." and without saying anything else, he touched the man's forehead with the tip of the hilt. A sign shone on his forehead and, under the bewildered eyes of those present, his body was covered with cracks before dissolving in the air. While they could only see that, Naruto saw the soul of man vanish along with the body, giving him confirmation that his Konsō had been successful.
In all honesty, he was not certain that those souls would have gone into the Soul Society, having been artificially created by the technique of Minato, but preferred to carry out his task in that way rather than exterminating all those who had been brought back to life.
One by one, the various people gathered were purified by Naruto until the last one was left.
Naruto looked at Hitomi with calm eyes "You have something to say, isn't it?"
Hitomi merely looked at him, showing again a sad smile "Years ago we never got to meet in person, even though I would have loved it. You probably don't know, but I'm Hinata's mother." if Naruto was surprised, he didn't show it "Since I was brought back to life, she told me a lot about you, how you helped her against those bullies when you were kids and how you inspired her to never give up. For that, I want to thank you."
The former Captain-Commander sighed "Are you going to ask me to spare your daughter?"
Those words seemed to surprise Hitomi slightly "You knew?"
"Yes. Let's say my eyes helped me find out about her. Among the various members of Konoha 13, as they are called, seven of them have been brought back to life. Sasuke in the first place, since I killed him eight years ago." Naruto paused briefly, thinking about how Minato had practically forced him to kill his teammate "The others are your daughter and her two teammates plus the whole Team Ten."
Hitomi could only nod, clutching her right hand with the left one.
"May I know how they died?"
The woman took a deep breath to check her heartbeat, but when she managed to speak, Naruto heard the fear in her voice "Four years ago, she was on a mission with Kiba and Shino. They had all been promoted to chūnin, so they were sent on a mission alone, after all it was a simple C-Rank mission." she paused, taking another deep breath "However they met a group of missing nin that aimed at Hinata's Byakugan...she and her friends managed to defeat most of their enemies, but then two...monsters appeared." she looked at him, with pure hatred in her eyes "Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara the Mad Bomber, two members of Akatsuki, attacked Hinata, her friends and the remaining missing nin...they killed all of them and Sasori, that monster, he...he...he took the bodies of my child and her comrades. Despite the number of ninjas in the village, it was never possible to find Sasori to confirm my fears, but I am sure that that monster turned Hinata's body into a puppet."
Naruto remained silent, listening to the story of the woman in front of him but then he raised an eyebrow when he saw her kneel and place her forehead against the ground. If another Hyuuga had seen her now, they would have had a heart attack after seeing the clan-head's wife bowing like that to an enemy.
"So, please...at least save Hinata's life. She is a young and kind girl, she has a pure soul. She doesn't deserve to die again because of mistakes made by someone else. I beg you, save her."
Moments of silence followed her words and she didn't dare raise her head to look Naruto in the eyes, however when the boy said "I'm sorry." her heart skipped a beat.
"This is a vitally important task assigned to me by the Soul King. The whole balance of the circle of rebirth depends on my actions and I will not disobey orders. I'm sorry, but your daughter will also have to be eliminated as well as the rest of her team."
With her head still bent against the ground, Hitomi held back a sob "I see..." before disappearing in a burst of speed, canceling the distance between her and Naruto in a few moments. Her Byakugan was visibly active and her hand didn't hesitate a second in striking Naruto's chest at heart level.
However, her strike never reached the target.
Thanks to her Byakugan, Hitomi didn't even have to turn to see Haku's face peering at her as she gripped the wrist of her offending arm with a firm grip. After a few seconds of stalemate, Hitomi's raging face shattered like a mask and hot tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. Naruto looked at Haku and nodded, causing her to let go of the woman who didn't try to hit him again, merely crying.
"I couldn't protect her throughout her childhood...and even now I can't do anything about it..."
"Fate has been mocking and unfair to you, but if it's any consolation, I promise you that Hinata will not suffer when her time comes." said Naruto raising his sword. Hitomi looked at him and nodded, not trusting her voice.
With a simple touch, her body and soul were also lost in the wind.
While Naruto sheathed his sword, Haku turned to a tree not far away "You can come out now." and a few moments later, Itachi Uchiha stepped out of his cover, approaching the couple, only to stop a few meters away.
"Naruto."
"Itachi."
Sasuke's older brother then looked at the woman at Naruto's side "You must be Haku, right?"
She raised an eyebrow, honestly surprised that Itachi knew her name "Yes, I am. I'm curious, how do you know my name?"
"When you appeared on the night of the festival, my brother said that your face seemed familiar to him and Sakura also claimed to have seen you somewhere. Eventually, they remembered you when you were their enemy during their first C-Rank mission and, going to re-read the Team Seven's report, your name came up along with Momochi Zabuza's." explained Itachi without missing a beat before adding "Obviously, by now, even the Hokage and everyone else knows about your identity."
Haku nodded, not at all disturbed by his last comment, but it was Naruto who asked the question they both had in mind "Why are you here, Itachi? You haven' been brought back to life and, although your life should have ended years ago, the aura that your body generates is not so bad that it is considered an anomaly."
Itachi raised an eyebrow at those words 'So he has a way of understanding who has been brought back to life? If I saw correctly, his eyes turned yellow and black for a moment. Is it possible that it is a Dōjutsu?' and then decided to answer his question "If you are referring to my illness, Tsunade-sama managed to cure me also thanks to the intervention of the Uzumaki clan and their seals. As for my presence here, I wanted to know why you're doing all this." he then added "You probably already know that I was here from the beginning, so I heard what you said to Hitomi but what I want to know is why you're doing this to your village. You were born and raised here, Naruto. Your...previous life really matters so little to you?"
Naruto simply shook his head "You are intelligent even though you are a child, I cannot deny it, but at the same time you ignore things you could understand without even committing yourself." he looked at the sky for a moment "By now you should have realized that my powers are not normal and that they transcend those of a simple Jinchuuriki. Tell me, what do you think happens after death?"
Itachi remained silent for a few seconds, pondering his answer "Our soul becomes part of some cycle of rebirth? When you destroyed your father's stone face, you mentioned something like that."
Naruto nodded "There are many worlds other than this. All governed by the Soul King, the one I served for more than two thousand years." those last words seemed to surprise Itachi but the former Captain-Commander went ahead anyway "One of these worlds is the Soul Society and you could compare it to paradise, if you prefer. When someone dies, their soul reaches this place where the soul's rebirth process will take place. What Minato did was to break the balance that had come about after hundreds of thousands of years." he then stared at Itachi with cold eyes "As I said, I served the Soul King for many years and frankly, the thirteen hellish years I spent in this place can't even compete against the ones I lived in the Soul Society."
Itachi stared at him for a few seconds before asking "Therefore you are fulfilling your duty?"
"Yes."
"I see...so I guess you know that all the ninja of Konoha will try to stop you." and to make his point clear, Itachi activated his Sharingan in both eyes.
"You are all children for me." said Naruto, not at all impressed by his eyes "Although I wonder why no ninja showed up here. Minato ordered them not to come?"
"On the contrary, the King has publicly announced that no ninja or civilian will be stopped if they decided to come here this morning." said Itachi, surprising the former captains "However, no ninja has decided to accept your offer because everyone knows that if you succeed, Konoha would be weakened due to the large number of losses and the other villages would take advantage of it to attack."
"Mh, a valid point at least." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought "However, this will not prevent me from completing my task and among other things..." his spiritual pressure suddenly covered the entire area, making Itachi startle as he struggled to breathe, still managing to remain standing "I would advise you to deactivate your Sharingan and leave. You will not be one of my targets, but if you try to stop me I will not hesitate to eliminate you."
The pressure was then lifted and Naruto turned to leave but a noise associated with many of the ninja techniques could be heard behind him and, sighing, he looked back at Itachi, who now held a common katana, perhaps with the blade shorter than a standard sword.
"Didn't you hear me, brat?"
Itachi simply tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and Naruto, shaking his head, said a single word.
"Haku."
Itachi's eyes widened in shock and he barely had time to turn around and raise his weapon to parry Haku's slash, which stared at him with neutral eyes holding her sword with one hand. Without giving him any respite, she began to attack him with rapid strikes and from different directions, but Itachi was able to block them all thanks to his Sharingan, almost managing to counterattack, but each time Haku simply moved herself behind him with incredible speed before resuming at attack relentlessly.
"Excellent reflexes." said Haku without stopping "Your Sharingan is certainly a big help, but I notice that you have a talent for this kind of fighting."
Itachi succeeded in blocking yet another blow before finding himself in a deadlock and at that moment, Haku saw his eyes change from a simple Sharingan to a kind of shuriken with six curved blades, three of which were black while the others were red.
"Thank you, but it's time to end this fight." said Itachi before looking into her eyes "Tsukuyomi!"
[Tsukuyomi World]
Haku looked around, noting that she was in a dark forest and that the sky was completely red because of the crimson moon.
"This is the world created by the power of Tsukuyomi. Having obtained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, I now have more control skills, and for the next seventy-two hours, you will be a victim of this world." said the voice of Itachi and an instant later, Haku found herself in an ice mirror before being filled with a feeling of anxiety and fear.
Looking ahead, she was shocked to see a young Naruto, kneeling in front of Sasuke's body, completely pervaded by a dense red and orange chakra.
'This is...'
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Before she could react, Naruto lashed at her, punching her in the face and throwing her several meters away. Haku staggered to her feet, noticing only then that she had the body of a young girl again, and felt the mask on her face begin to shatter.
And at that moment she heard the sound again.
Birds.
Thousands of birds chirping at the same time.
'Zabuza...!'
She didn't wait, she acted.
Almost instinctively, she stepped back to enter an ice mirror and, as she stepped out, Kakashi pierced her chest with a hand filled with electricity. She vomited a large amount of blood, but did not die. Kakashi removed his hand from her chest and laid her down on the bridge while, with her eyes still open, she saw Zabuza run towards his death in the form of an army of mercenaries.
Each stab, each broken bone, each attack. She felt them all on her body and finally, she saw Zabuza fall to the ground in a pool of blood after killing his target.
She couldn't speak his name, let alone scream it.
She could only relive that scene, this time from Zabuza's point of view and then again from her own.
Over and over.
Without ever being able to change anything.
For seventy-two hours straight.
[Real World]
Itachi stared unmoving at Haku, who had lowered her head after falling under the influence of Tsukuyomi, yet she hadn't stopped putting pressure with her blade. Itachi mentally counted up to three seconds, the estimated time to spend seventy-two hours in the world of Tsukuyomi.
'Time is up, now she should at least fall to her knees in shock.' thought the Sharingan wielder but nevertheless, she did not fall to her knees, and instead raised her head.
Despite his strong control over his emotions and his experience, Itachi could only tremble in front of Haku's gaze, who was simply smiling at him, yet it seemed to him the most empty and terrifying smile he had ever seen. The bloodlust she started emanating from her body covered the entire area and Itachi found himself frozen in place.
Slowly, she raised her free hand and placed it on the blade of her katana "Drink, Kubikiribōchō!"
Only by instinct did Itachi cover his blade with a thick layer of chakra before Haku simply threw him away with a horizontal slash, causing him to crash into a tree at the edge of the clearing. The air was forced out of his lungs and, falling to the ground, Itachi immediately realized how his arms were completely numb.
'Such power! She could be as strong as Tsunade!' Itachi managed to raise his head to look at Haku's new blade 'Is that the famous Kubikiribōchō? I thought it was in the Land of Waves.' shaking his head, he noticed that Haku was still staring at him with that terrifying smile and slowly brought her sword close to her body 'She's as dangerous as Naruto, I can't even hope to stop her without using everything I have!'
A large amount of orange chakra began to cover his body while what looked like a giant skeleton started to form behind him, just as Haku laid her free hand on her blade once again.
"BAN-!"
"Haku."
Everything seemed to stop with one word. Both Itachi and Haku stopped to look at Naruto, who had a piece of paper in his hand and, despite the pain he was feeling in that moment, Itachi recognized the seal on the paper.
'That is a seal of alert...if someone puts their chakra into that seal, everyone who owns one will be alerted.' thought Itachi with narrowed eyes 'We believed that Naruto was no longer able to use his chakra, yet now I confirm it thanks to my eyes, and he seems to be able to use basic seals.'
Itachi had correctly deduced the current situation of Naruto who, during the past week, had decided to check if he was still able to use his chakra and the jutsu he had learned during his previous life. Moreover, thanks also to Gaara, he had learned the basics of Fūinjutsu, thus succeeding in creating some alert seals which he had then delivered to all his friends just in case.
"We need to go. Something must have happened to Gaara." said Naruto with a firm voice, before looking down at Itachi "This is the only time I will let you go, brat. I have something more important to think about and also because we attacked you, and not the other way around." and with that, he disappeared with a Shumpo.
Haku looked at Itachi for a long moment before returning her Zanpakutō to its basic form while that terrifying smile faded away from her face, leaving a serene expression.
"Next time, you won't be so lucky." and then she disappeared as well.
'This is bad...she is practically at the level of a Kage and Naruto managed to stop her simply by saying her name.' thought Itachi while the skeleton dissolved behind him 'I need to...tell this...to the Hokage...before it's too late...'
Itachi managed to get up with difficulty and then walked towards the village, hoping that whatever caught Naruto's attention would keep him occupied for as long as possible.
[Suna]
"What happened here?" asked Naruto with a firm voice, looking at Temari and then at the columns of smoke that rose from the village behind her.
"The Akatsuki attacked tonight, just before dawn! Gaara fought against one of them who used strange explosives but then he used all his chakra to protect the village from a powerful explosion and was then captured." explained Temari with a worried face "Kankuro was defeated by the other member and was poisoned but we don't have an antidote for him right now."
Naruto narrowed his eyes before asking "Has anyone seen where they went?"
"They went northwest. One of them created a sort of large, completely white bird and flew northwest." said one ninja pointing in said direction.
Naruto nodded before looking at Haku "Do you think you can help them with the injured?"
The former captain of the Fourth Division nodded with a smile "Yes, don't worry. I'll help those in need and then I'll join you." she then added "But if you could keep one of them alive...I would really appreciate it."
Those words sent a chill down Temari's back, but Naruto remained unperturbed and nodded before disappearing with a Shumpo while Haku looked at Gaara's sister.
"So, could you take me to the hospital? Every second counts after all."
[Several miles away from Suna]
"That went well, yeah." nodded Deidara with a grin while looking at the unconscious form of Gaara, who was being carried in the mouth of his clay bird.
"It took you too long." replied Sasori at his side "Zetsu told us that Hidan and Kakuzu died, so it will take even longer to seal the Ichibi."
"You don't really know when to relax, do you? We have captured the Jinchuuriki, now we just have to bring it to the base and the game is done, yeah." said Deidara while shaking his head.
"In that case I don't think it will bother you if I interfere with your plans."
Both Deidara and Sasori's eyes widened in shock before looking up, where the voice had come from, and they were stunned to see Naruto fly above them. The former Captain-Commander didn't hesitate for a moment before drawing his sword and cutting a wing of the clay creature, which began to fall towards the underlying desert, but both Deidara and Sasori managed to land successfully with a jump.
Naruto reappeared a few meters from them, but Deidara hurled some small white spiders at him that grew instantly before exploding once they were close to the blonde swordsman. The missing nin of Iwa grinned with satisfaction but after a few moments, the grin disappeared from his face when he saw Naruto still standing and perfectly unharmed.
"I would be grateful if you avoided ruining my haori, it is a very important object for me." said Naruto staring at them with a calm face, but both Akatsuki members knew he was ready to fight. The missing nin of Iwa shifted his gaze slightly to look at Gaara, still unconscious in the jaws of his creation, yet his gesture did not go unnoticed.
"Do not even think about it." said Naruto in a lapidary voice "Although my purpose is another, I will not let you kill Gaara." his eyes then turned yellow and black for a moment before pointing at Sasori "Even if you are in some way on the list of my targets. The aura surrounding your body is that of a corpse, yet you are still alive."
"I wonder why." said Sasori with a deep voice, not at all worried by the current situation "Deidara, retrieve the Jinchuuriki and take it to the lair. I'll take care of this nosy, he could turn out to be a very good puppet after all."
"Puppet?" repeated Naruto slowly narrowing his eyes "So you are..." his sentence was interrupted when, from the sandy ground, two large centipedes of clay sprouted up and wrapped him with their bodies.
Deidara grinned victoriously before running close to Gaara and raising a hand "Art is an explosion! Katsu!"
The two centipedes exploded raising a large cloud of sand and smoke and, having created another clay bird, Deidara took Gaara with him before flying to a forest on the horizon, leaving Sasori alone against Naruto. The aforesaid puppet-master brought out a large metallic tail that began to move slowly before attacking the figure barely visible in the smoke. He wasn't surprised when his attack failed and Naruto blocked the tip of the tail with two fingers, looking at him with unimpressed eyes.
"There are not many who could do what you just did." Sasori said trying to retract the tail but without success "Your physical strength is noteworthy."
Naruto was silent before he vanished with a Shumpo, reappearing next to Sasori. Before the missing nin of Suna could react, the former Captain-Commander punched him from above, destroying his head and most of the chest, yet what looked like a body was actually made of wood and metal and, from that fake body, jumped out a hooded figure that landed a few feet away.
"You destroyed my Hiruko, it was one of my favorites you know?" said Sasori before pulling down his hood, showing a young face. The two adversaries observed each other in silence for a few seconds but then the red-haired boy shook his head "I was thinking about which puppet to use to face you, but considering your strength...I decided that I will use them all." he took off the black robe that covered his body, revealing that he himself was actually a puppet "Including myself, of course!"
Without wasting any more time, he took a scroll from his back and after some rapid hand-seals, two small tubes came out of the palms of his hands. Pointing them towards Naruto, Sasori generated two flying waves of flames that burned the sand and swallowed the blonde swordsman instantly.
'Obviously this won't be enough to stop him, but I need just a few seconds to prepare my performance!' thought Sasori before taking the second scroll and unrolling it in front of him while opening a part of his chest with one hand.
At that moment, the flames around Naruto began to fade and the former Captain-Commander heard a long series of small explosions. Looking up, he raised an eyebrow at seeing more than a hundred puppets in red cloaks but then his attention returned to Sasori who took two small scrolls from his pants, showing them to him. On one of them there was the kanji for 'Third' and on the other the kanji for 'Eight'.
"Now, here are my last pieces, the ones I care about most." said Sasori with a smile before being swallowed by the white smoke of two explosions. In a few moments, five figures appeared from the smoke around Sasori and, while the first was a complete stranger to Naruto, being a dark-haired man with a black cloak, the other four were familiar to him.
"I guess you know most of them, but by education I want to introduce you to the Sandaime Kazekage and Konoha's Team Eight." said Sasori with that little smile still on his face while pointing at the black-haired man and then at the puppet-bodies of Kiba Inuzuka, his partner Akamaru, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga. He then put his hand on his right eye, while with his left hand he made a single seal and Hinata's eyes instantly changed, a sign that he had activated her Byakugan, even though the veins on the sides of the eyes were not visible.
When he lowered his hand, Sasori's eye was closed and there was the kanji for 'Eye' visible on his eyelid "It took me several months, but I managed to gain a good amount of control over the famous Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan and now I can see what my puppet sees." he then created chakra strings from the point of his fingers, linking them to his new five puppets "So, Naruto Uzumaki, are you ready for a little show?"
Throughout his explanation, Naruto had slightly lowered his head and his hair had casted a shadow over his eyes, but that didn't stop him from igniting his sword and Kurama could clearly sense his intentions. On the other hand, Sasori had secretly activated the fourth scroll on his back, thus preparing a powerful water attack to counter Naruto's flames.
"My orders are absolute, so I will eliminate all those who have been brought back to life...but this doesn't mean that I am happy for every single life I'll take." said Naruto with a low voice before raising his head, showing pure fury in his eyes "However, I cannot accept that someone like you gets away with having desecrated their bodies in this way. At first I was determined to eliminate you quickly, brat, but it is clear that you deserve an exemplary punishment."
Slowly, he raised his flaming sword but when Sasori was ready to fight back, all those flames faded into nothingness, confusing him.
In the silence that followed, Naruto said a single word and, although he didn't know the meaning, Sasori felt a strong feeling of fear tightening his heart.
"Bankai."
TO BE CONTINUED...